Antarctic flag proposals

Several flags have been proposed as a broader symbol of Antarctica and the people connected to it. None of these flags have any form of official status, and none are currently in common use on the continent. Here are some of them:

1929, proposed by the crew of the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE).

The white flag was used to represent Antarctica on at least two occasions on the voyage to Antarctica.

1978 (1985 by some sources), proposed by vexillologist Whitney Smith Jr.

The letter A stands for Antarctica, the circle segment represents the area below °60 south (the Antarctic Circle), and the hands represent human protection of the environment. The negative (orange) space between the hands and the circle segment is the dove of peace. For high visibility, Smith chose international orange, a color commonly used in the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings. The bright orange color was also chosen due to its rarity among national flags, as no nation with an active research base on the continent uses the color orange in their flag. The design elements are positioned on the hoist side of the flag so that it would remain visible even if the flag were damaged by the harsh Antarctic winds.

1995, proposed by Joanne Cooper and Stefan Tucker.

After seeing Smith's proposal Cooper and Tucker attempted to improve the design to make it more "representational".

1996, proposed by Graham Bartram.

Bartram designed this flag while working on a CD-ROM Atlas project. Unaware of previous flag proposals, he set out to create a flag for Antarctica. He decided to use the outline of the continent. Further, the UN jurisdiction over the Antarctic Treaty suggested the use of UN blue and white. Since the CD-ROM sold more than 2 million copies, Bartram's design was considered the most-distributed flag of Antarctica. Due to frequent, rapid changes in the ice shelves, the silhoutte of the continent is no longer accurate.

1999, proposed by bank note collector Dave Hamilton.

Hamilton, operator of a mint for fantasy currency, printed this flag on his "Antarctican 50 dollar" bill after he found other designs "very stupid-looking and boring". His design includes: a pale blue strip representing the pack ice, a dark blue stripe representing the night sky and a yellow stripe as the representation of the aurora australis. The stellar constellation the Southern Cross is shown in the dark blue stripe at the right.

2007/08, proposed by the plastic artist Olivier Leroy.

Leroy's flag is vertically divided into four stripes — black, off-white, orange, and gray — reproducing the proportions of the colors of an emperor penguin.

2018, proposed by the journalist Evan Townsend and his team from the True South project.

After posting a viral picture of a pride flag in Antarctica, Townsend started to think about designing a flag to raise awareness for the vulnerability of Antarctica and to create a sense of community and identity among those who have experienced the continent firsthand and those who support it from afar. The horizontal stripes of navy blue and white represent the long days and nights at Antarctica's extreme latitude. The design is focused on a white peak representing the mountains and icebergs of Antarctica. The navy blue shadow it casts forms the shape of a compass arrow pointed to the south, a homage to the continent's legacy of exploration. Together, the two center shapes create a diamond, symbolizing the hope that Antarctica will continue to be a center of peace, discovery, and cooperation for generations to come.

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Now, let's have some fun with this: Which flag proposal do you like the most? (I don't have a lot of followers, so this is basically meaningless but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Sources:

Wikipedia - List of Antarctic Flags

Edward Kaye - Flags over Antarctica, in: Proceedings of the XX International Congress of Vexillology

True South Flag - Flags of Antarctica